Continued Downstream earnings growth with strong refining availability in the US.

BP's shares rose more than 1% in early London trading, after touching a high of GBP5.48, or about $7.50.

The company's natural oil and gas exploration unit Upstream enjoyed its strongest first quarter since the third quarter of 2014 on both a replacement cost and underlying basis.

BP launched seven oil and gas fields in 2017, a record year, and is set to inaugurate six more projects this year including in Egypt, Azerbaijan and Britain's North Sea, which will help it boost production by 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2020, most of it gas.

"It's not only about the oil price, it is also about the performance of the kit", Gilvary said.

It paid out some US$1.6bn in payments connected to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, including the US$1.2bn final payment relating to the 2012 settlement with the US Department of Justice. Net debt at the end of March was $40 billion, up from $37.8 billion at the end of 2017.

It has so far cost the group more than 65 billion United States dollars (£48 billion), and although BP has all the major settlements now under its belt, it still has a few smaller legal bills to pay.

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